第一名 (Number 1)

2023
Participatory Performance
Performed at Maryland College Institute of Art (MICA)

“You can do anything you want to, but you must be the best at it.”

Drawing on the imagery of puppetry and symbols of femininity, this piece attempts to illustrate the destructiveness of a perfectionist mentality, how we will eventually unravel ourselves till there is nothing left to hold. It explores the intersections of my identities - an older sister, a “gifted child", an immigrant family, a dancer.

In this performance, 10 audience members select a piece of paper from a bowl, which is then placed on the ground in a circle surrounding a white crotchet dress hung from the ceiling. Each piece of paper contains a declaration of what “I am good / bad at”, responses collected from the audience which are read as I dance. I then proceed to put on the dress and cut a hole in its centre, allowing the yarn to unravel as I moved. With each phrase of movement, the dress unravels more, tangling around the body, the unraveling of the self in pursuit of perfection. At the end of the performance, I remove the broken garments and leave, unsheathing the marionette string that restricts the body.